Wow! What an experience. Try to arrive early so you can catch one of the first Safari Tour Buses; it's worth every second. It's a bit of a drive from the CBD, but if you have a young family, it's a must-do on your calendar. If you're a valid Zoos SA member, your entry fee is already taken care of. There are many animals to see and admire, and the sheer size of some creatures is astonishing! Five stars from me. read more

Apparently this is the biggest zoo in Australia, and the main reason for this was because the land where it is located was originally set aside for a massive housing development that never actually eventuated. Yeah, this place is pretty big. In fact it is so big you pretty much need busses to get around to see the best parts of the park. It was amazing though, especially seeing herds of Giraffes, something that you don't get to experience in your standard city zoo. Oh, and they also have cheetahs, which is pretty cool as well. Mind you, it is pretty far out from the city, so it can be a bit tricky to get to (though I believe there are tours). read more

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This was my first time at Monarto and it's impossible to choose a favorite exhibit. The staff was knowledgeable and friendly and we had a great cappuccino in the morning with our breakfast sandwiches, and refreshing lemonade and cold beer in the afternoon with delicious chips. It was a bit confusing how to start the day, so, I would recommend taking the bus for orientation reasons. But my next visit will be walking most of the park because I love to hike through the aromatic eucalyptus. Go on a cool day if that's your plan. If you're walking, you won't always make it to the feeding times, which I highly recommend. read more

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Monarto Zoo is an amazing place that continues to evolve and grow from its ambitious original vision. Loved patting the white rhinos and feeding the giraffes - the wallabies were also a highlight. The keepers are committed, approachable and knowledgeable. Didn't love the surly approach of the cafe staff so much - smiles are free and make a huge difference - even if you think you have a captive audience. We were here for work so didn't see all of the animals, but will definitely be back to explore more in the future. read more

Monarto Safari Park - Zoos Near Me - Monarto, SA

Zoos often make me sad because of the enclosures and sad faces on the animals. Monarto zoo is the largest open range zoo in the world and the enclosures are more like open fields - like seeing them in the wild. The viewing platforms and fences are cleverly and thoughtfully designed and executed to blend in - it seems that no expense was spared to keep these animals in the most natural habitat possible whilst delivering great viewing for us too. It was nice to see so many pregnant animals and young animals which is proof of happy animals. I was fortunate to get to see some of the animals quite close from the bus but I will be back when I have time to walk/ride the paths to really take it all in. Our volunteer tour guide was fantastic and had a pleasant manner and was knowledgable. Everything was also nice and green after the rain so cold July worked out to be a nice time of year to go - plus I can imagine many animals would hide away in the summer heat! The cafe is great for a quick meal with the family. The prices are on the high side for cafes but I don't mind that knowing that it helps keep the zoo running. I think this place should be called a conservation park rather than a zoo! read more

Monarto Safari Park - Wallaby! - Zoos Near Me - Monarto, SA

When you're broke, extremely busy and don't own a car, it can be pretty difficult doing anything other than riding your bike back and forth between home and uni everyday. Home, uni, home, uni, home, uni. 'First-world problems', as they say on the twitters. So anyway, recently my housemate got a car. And we all decided to go to Monarto Zoo for an 'adventure'. I was suspicious, zoos are often a let-down. Monarto Zoo was not a let-down. Monarto Zoo was fun. Top Tips: 1) The weather is hotter out here. Bring a hat and lots of water. Preferably your hat should be some kind of ironic safari-style hat. It's dusty, don't wear sandals. 2) The animals are mostly out in the open-range. Which means you might not get as close up, but they have much more space, so they can do all their normal animal things and be happy. 3) Don't miss out on the giraffes. Really elegant in a sort of lanky, awkward way. I can relate. 4) The shuttle buses go around the zoo all day. Don't miss the last one back to home base. Mix it up a little by walking between some pitstops. If you get bored walking for thirty minutes, sing annoying ditties to amuse your companions. 5) When you're on the lion bus, don't tap the windows. The tour-guide in this section - who is more lioness than the lions themselves - DOES NOT LIKE IT. 6) Plan your day around one or two of the special feeding sessions - you'll get an up close experience. I recommend the cheetahs. 7) Look out for the frozen coke machine in the kiosk. This will save your life with vital liquids and blood sugars. That said, go with the smaller size, that much glucose just can't be good for you. read more

Monarto Safari Park - Zoos Near Me - Monarto, SA

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I have mixed feelings towards zoos normally. I love that they are trying to preserve species of animals and that they are focused on conservation. I also love seeing the cute little animals. However I feel torn because the animals don't have heaps of space to move around, so I feel bad when I'm looking at a lion that doesn't have enough room to run. No such problem at Monarto Zoo! The zoo is open-range, in fact Monarto Zoo is the largest open range zoo in the Southern Hemisphere, pretty cool right?! The animals have (literally) acres of space and you get to see them in as close to their natural habitat as possible. you jump onto a bus and get driven through all the different areas while a tour guide up the front teaches you all about the animals, it's actually pretty interesting stuff. The bus gets you super close to the animals and there's also drop-off points when you can get out and walk to viewing platforms. It takes a whole day to see Monarto Zoo, but it's worth it! read more

I went to Monarto as a kid and only remember snippets of it - occasional animals, dusty dead grass, hot rattly buses. Honestly, nothing seems to have changed. I went today with my family, and was slightly disappointed. The tour guides were very old (no offence), talked quietly, the buses were stifling with no air con and the park seemed a little run down and uninteresting. We also found it very hard to organize to see everything because you need to take buses to get everywhere and they only loop 1 way. We spent 4 hours in the park, and only managed to see one animal feeding, get the bus a few times round and est lunch quickly in between. The animals were ok, some rhinos, giraffes, deers/antelope, lions, cheetahs etc. But they were mostly resting in shady trees or far away from the bus, some were even in an enclosure in an enclosure! It was ok for a once off, but it costed $30 each and I really expected a bit more. read more

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I love zoos and I have been to at least 30 different zoos all around the world - many numerous times. I think that Monarto Zoo is almost the best in the world! It is absolutely magnificent! I had been twice before and loved it both times, but since I hadnt been for about 5 years I held off writing a yelp review about it until now after visiting again today! As a member of Zoos Victoria (which covers Melbourne Zoo, Werribee Zoo and Healesville Sanctuary) you get in free to government run zoos in other Australian states - so in South Australia, this means Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Zoo. So we got in free and then drove to the car park and entry point (you pay about 2.5 kilometres earlier at the main gate). At the visitor centre, there is the gift shop and cafe and all that sort of stuff as well as a lot of very interesting touch tables - with animal skins, bones, antlers etc on them - this is a great interactive experience for the kids. There is even a whole giraffe skeleton - in a pit about a metre deep looking over the room! To get around the zoo, you take a shuttle bus which has about 4 pickup/dropoff points - so you go around on the bus and get off where you like - most of the enclosures for the larger animals are seen best from this bus, however many of them can also be seen on foot - whereby you can walk around the zoo also. In my opinion, you have 2 ways of going about this: 1. Do the whole circuit on the bus first and then go around on foot to what most interests you (or do the circuit again on the bus and get off at those places). OR 2. Get off at every stop and just get back on again after seeing the specific things at the pickup/dropoff points. Quite a few of the animals can not be seen best from the bus - including the chimpanzees, Tasmanian devils and rock wallabies. So make a point of getting off the bus to see these. The other 2 exhibits which you should see on foot are the White Rhinos (they have 8 or 9 of them including a little baby) and the African Waterhole (which has giraffes, zebra, ostrich and eland antelope all together). These 2 are great on foot as they have excellent viewing areas. Of the animals in general, there are giraffes, white rhino, black rhino, zebra, ostrich, meerkat, chimpanzees and various antelope species representing Africa. Asia is represented by Indian antelope, spotted deer and others. There are also North Ameican bison, a few Australian animals and a large carnivore section with lions, cheetahs, African painted dogs (known as Cape Hunting Dogs to us old school folk), and hyenas. What is nice is that the shuttle bus actually drives through the carnivores enclosures! The enclosures for the animals are absolutely huge, and actually look like their natural habitats! Effort has been put in to this side of things! The animals also appear to be very happy - evidence of which is that they are breeding! During todays trip, I saw 5 baby cheetahs, 2 lion cubs, a baby white rhino, a baby chimp and a baby zebra. Its not often that you see that many baby animals in a zoo! Id also recommend going to this zoo in winter as the grass is green and lush and the place looks very pretty. Ive been in summer previously and it was much much drier. Some other advice: arrive as early as possible - this place is huge and while 3 or 5 hours is enough to see it, it doesnt really do it justice! Id also plan the day around the feeding times and keeper talks - they are very informative and while I didnt do any this time (which I regret slightly) I actually got to pat one of the white rhinos last time (something they do occassionally depending on which rhino is in the paddock and only if the group of people is small enough - so dont count on this). I could rave on even more about this place, but I wont - all I can say is that if you live in Adelaide, make sure you get down to Monarto and if you are visiting, then this is a huge drawcard for an Adelaide trip! read more

When I first went to Monarto I was just a twinkle in my mother's eye. Well maybe not, but I was young and so was the zoo. We hopped on our school excursion bus and taken through the park and shown where the giraffes were eventually going to be kept, and the rhinos, and elephants and pretty much ended up seeing some donkeys and zebras at the time. Last year I unwillingly returned on a Mother In Law's "Day Excursion" and was pleasantly surprised! Did you know Monarto is one of the largest open plain zoos in the world? Spanning 1,000 hectares they have built up the entire area since opening in 1983 to include natural flora and fauna. With a huge focus on breeding and conservation programs, the Monarto Zoo is worth the trek to now see the cheetahs, african dogs, giraffes, white rhinos, baby lion cubs, ostriches and yellow footed rock wallaby. And don't worry, you will actually get to see them from viewing platforms as the zoo is flourishing! You can walk the tracks but it is definitely worth catching the Zu-Loop to make sure you get around to see everything. The bus also times this with zookeeper talks as well which is a bonus. At $32 per adult it isn't a cheap day out but you could also make use of their Two Zoos Pass and pay only $47 per adult to see both zoos within 3 months of each other. Bonus! read more

Monarto - dry, dusty, but tonnes of fun - we had an annual membership to the Adelaide zoo which included our family visits to Monarto for free, and we made the most of the opportunities to use it. Monarto has been hugely upgraded in the past few years, with additional feeding stations and stops, and walking areas between displays. It IS often hotter out here than it is in the city - that's what you'd expect on the African Savannah, right?? Feeding the Giraffe's is an incredible experience. Well worth revisiting if you haven't been back in a few years. read more

Great zoo to visit with the family and gives a great picture of the African wildlife. Would recommend for all ages as you can get around very easy with buses every 20 minutes or so. read more

Monarto Safari Park - Cheetahs - Zoos Near Me - Monarto, SA

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While I enjoyed the zoo and think it is a great place I found the anti-human slant taken by two of the guides quite disturbing. I would most likely have rated the zoo with five stars if it wasn't for the guilt trip being laid on me for being a human being every second sentence. The food in the restaurant was good but the servers need to be taught that the customer is their bread and butter and should be treated with a little more respect. read more

While staying in Nairne with family we decided to make the trip to monarto zoo having heard good reviews but we were all disappointed ( 4 adults 7 kids ). Main reason being was we got off on every bus escort through out the park waiting up to 20minutes for each bus only to be waiting a further 20minutes when people do not get off the bus to see the attractions which obviously does not free room up for anyone else to get on the bus but the biggest Problem was throughout the 4 hour trip through the zoo there was not 1 place to have a drink, There was 2 vending machines but both were broken So all 11 of us were unable to have a drink for 4 hours, At the least we should of been informed to take plenty of fluids as we all thought there would of been some sort of way of purchasing a drink, It was 28 this day luckily it was not 40. After complaining at the front desk about not having any drinks available anywhere but the kiosk at the main entrance the admin said to us well the cafe part of the zoo maintains the vending machines? Maybe you should take responsibility of your own zoo. Apart from the above issue the animals were good to view but nothing out of the ordinary i much prefer to go to the Adelaide zoo but if i could make a recommendation put more buses on or make people get off at every stop so the people that have been waiting can get on the bus. read more